When you’re creating your video marketing campaigns, there’s a lot to keep in mind. You must align your business goals, soundtrack, emotional appeal, and stunning visuals to keep users engaged. And while you’re focusing on bringing your vision to life in the form of a video, you’re likely not thinking about getting the dialogue in the video recorded into transcriptions.
The idea of needing video transcriptions sometimes baffles marketers and businesses until they realize, after multiple videos or campaigns, exactly how much they could benefit from having them. Today, even lawyers use legal transcription as a tool to obtain faster and accurate transcripts from legal events. Transcriptions are particularly crucial for longer videos; however, you should consider leveraging them for all your video content.
So how can you use video transcription services to make your campaigns more impactful? A lot of it comes down to closed captions, which can improve the user experience and help you maximize your results.
In This Article, You’ll Know How:
- Subtitles and SRT files enhance SEO and engagement by making videos accessible and searchable—crucial in a mobile-first world where 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound.
- You can create subtitles in three practical ways: using video editing tools (like Camtasia), manually writing SRT files, or leveraging YouTube’s subtitle editor for formatting ease and reusability.
- Professional transcription services like Ditto Transcripts ensure 99%+ accuracy, saving time, enabling legally admissible results, and offering SEO-ready transcripts and SRT files—essential for scaling high-quality video content affordably.
Why Subtitles & Closed Captions Are So Important
Closed captions and subtitles are the text displayed along the bottom of a video that put the narration, dialogue, and even sounds into written words for the audience to read. Similar to how government transcripts aid in publicizing documents for transparency across different government arms, closed captions and subtitles serve a similar function in the world of online video marketing.
Closed captions and subtitles enhance the effectiveness of videos for online marketing. About 74% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, and adding captions there can increase view time by 12%. On YouTube, captioned videos have been shown to get over 7% more views. This proves captions aren’t just about accessibility; they help videos reach and engage more people.
Subtitles make your videos as accessible as possible. Someone may have a hearing disability, or be in a place where they cannot hear the content clearly or can’t listen with sound on. Regardless of the reason why they can’t hear the video, subtitles help ensure that you can keep them engaged and provide them the context they need to take away your desired message in the video.
It’s not overwhelmingly surprising, therefore, that more than 85% of videos on Facebook are watched without sound. This is partially thanks to the autoplay feature, though it’s also due to the fact that users (88% of them, to be exact) are spending more time on mobile devices and are therefore on the go.
Subtitles, if created correctly, can also provide immense SEO (Search Engine Optimization) benefits. When you’re using an SRT file, for example, it’s like a transcript attached to the video itself, which is crawlable by search engines. This can help your video to appear in more search engine results and have better visibility, attracting new customers to you.
What Are SRT Files?
SEO benefits aren’t the only reason that you should be using subtitles and closed captions in your videos. That being said, those benefits can be hugely advantageous, so we’re going to take a look at why exactly SRT files are so helpful here.
SRT files are the text files most often used to add subtitles to videos. They contain the subtitles that you want to appear on the screen alongside the timestamps of when you want the subtitles to show up in your video.
They’ll look something like this:
SRT files, unlike most native manual caption tools, are crawlable by search engines, allow users to turn on or shut off closed captions if they choose, and can be added to videos on different platforms. You can, for example, upload SRT files alongside your videos on platforms like Facebook and YouTube. To give you a better glimpse of the benefits of SRT files, know that subtitles aren’t just helpful in movies or video entertainment. In the legal field, trial transcription can help produce SRT files to facilitate a better understanding and review of what was said on the stand.
How You Can Create Subtitles for Your Videos
When creating subtitles for your videos, you have several options to choose from. Not all are created equal, and it’s important to look at the pros and cons of each before you decide which method is right for you.
Let’s take a look at three of the easiest ways you can add subtitles to your videos.
Use Video Editing Software like Camtasia
Video editing software can range from very simple to very advanced; almost all of them will allow you to add subtitles to your videos. This can take a little while, and it requires you to watch the video as a whole, and then individual sentences and phrases to see where you want to break down the text on each screen.
Once you decide this, you’ll pause the video, enter the subtitles, and have them appear for the same length of time that the text in the subtitles is being spoken aloud.
This method is relatively easy and can save time when uploading videos to multiple platforms. There are two big downsides, though. The first is that users don’t have the option to disable closed captions here, because the text has become part of the video itself instead of an add-on feature. The second is that this isn’t an actual SRT file, so it isn’t crawlable, and you lose some of that SEO potential.
Create Your Own SRT Files with Text Editing Software
This is typically the most complicated way to create SRT files. Some advertisers and video production companies prefer it, so we’re offering you the option here as well.
You can use any text editing software available to create SRT files manually. If you want to opt for free software that you likely already have, check for Notepad if you’re on Windows and TextEdit for Mac.
Aside from the time-consuming nature of getting the transcription right, the trickiest part here is ensuring the file’s formatting is exactly correct.
The subtitle must be formatted accordingly:
[The number of the section of the subtitle]
[hours]: [minutes]: [seconds], [milliseconds] → [hours]: [minutes]: [seconds], [milliseconds]
[Subtitle, with full punctuation]
Once your subtitles are complete, make sure you save the document as a plain text document and save it as an SRT file. Proper formatting is essential here, and while it is more than possible to get it right, it can be a little tricky, so many brands prefer to use more automated tools instead.
Which brings us to the last option…
Use YouTube’s Closed Caption Tool
YouTube is a free resource that offers the best of both worlds: ease of use and all the added benefits of an SRT file. I like to use it as a great shortcut to get those subtitles up and running.
For this part of the tutorial, we will assume that you’ve already decided to obtain a full transcript of your video in advance, and all you need to do is copy and paste it directly into the video itself.
You can use YouTube’s manual subtitle tool, copying the subtitles and closed captions into the “subtitle creator box.” Ensure that it’s syncing up with the voiceover narration by listening carefully and then going back to hear it a second time. If any of the subtitles don’t line up with what’s being said out loud, you can edit the timestamp easily.
YouTube handles a lot of the timestamp formatting for you, which is a significant advantage, especially since you can download a perfectly formatted SRT file directly from YouTube once your subtitles are complete and published. This allows you to create the file only once, and you can then use it to generate dynamic subtitles for your videos when publishing them to other platforms.
Transcription: The Secret for Ensuring Closed Caption Accuracy
If you’ve never tried creating an actual transcript (even without syncing it up to text), you’ve likely discovered how challenging it can be. It’s easy to mishear words or to get them a little jumbled while you try desperately to type fast enough to keep up with the video. This can lead to inaccurate subtitles, which can reduce the effectiveness of your video content.
Instead of trying to create subtitles in real-time, most creators have found that outsourcing the transcription work is their best bet, especially for longer videos that exceed a minute in length. Auto-transcribe tools, after all, typically do a horrific job when it comes to accuracy, and that effect only worsens when even the slightest accent is thrown into the mix.
Hire professional transcriptionists like Ditto Transcripts to create full transcripts of your videos. You can attach these transcripts to the descriptions of your videos if you’d like, which many professional courses do (including Hubspot’s certifications, shown below), or just use them to create closed captions. They make it easy to develop guaranteed-to-be-accurate subtitles, which can easily be copied and pasted into the right time frame for your SRT files.
When it comes to transcription, it’s always a good choice to hire professionals. Agencies like ours guarantee up to 99% accuracy on all video transcriptions, and all you have to do is send us a video or audio file and let us know how you’d like us to proceed. For example, we can perform verbatim transcription of your recordings if you need a text version of every word said, including the fillers such as “ahs” and “uh-hms”. Since we’re taking this time-consuming task off your hands while ensuring great quality, it makes it easier for you to scale your video campaigns overall, which can help you maximize their results.
There are many professional transcription companies in the industry, so why Ditto?
Aside from guaranteed 99% accuracy, we uphold the highest standards for safety, and our compliance with HIPAA, FINRA, and CJIS reinforces this commitment. Our transcripts are also legally admissible, which means that aside from improving SEO, they can also be used as a legal piece or evidence if needed. The best part? Our level of service does not cost a fortune. Our legal transcription pricing is competitive, offering the best benefits at an affordable price.
Level Up Your Videos With AI Voice Generators
If you’re a little shy on camera, consider using an AI voice generator to get the job done. AI voice generators have revolutionized how we interact with technology, enabling applications such as virtual assistants, automated customer service, and personalized content narration. They support e-learning, sales training materials, videos, and presentations, and can be used in different industries like entertainment, accessibility, and communication.
Future advancements also promise to enhance human-computer interactions and foster creativity in audio content production.
Conclusion
In hindsight, here’s what everything looks like:
| Method | How It Works | Pros | Cons |
| Video Editing Software (e.g., Camtasia) | Add subtitles directly while editing the video. Text is displayed for the same duration as spoken words. | Easy to add, works across all platforms, no extra files needed. | Captions are “burned in” → can’t be turned off. Not crawlable → no SEO benefit. |
| Manual SRT with Text Editor | Use Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac). Write subtitles + timestamps in correct .srt format. Save as plain text file. | Free, full control, SEO benefit when uploaded. | Time-consuming, tricky formatting, high chance of errors. |
| YouTube Closed Caption Tool | Upload transcript → paste into YouTube subtitle editor. Sync manually with audio. Download formatted .srt for reuse. | Free, auto-handles formatting, reusable SRT across platforms. | Still requires careful syncing to avoid timing errors. |
| Professional Transcription Services | Hire pros (e.g., Ditto Transcripts) to create accurate transcripts (99%+). Use them for SRT files. | Saves time, very accurate, scalable, legally admissible. | Paid service vs. DIY. |
| AI Voice Generators | Use AI tools to narrate or voice your video when you don’t want to record yourself. | Scalable, versatile for e-learning/marketing, and improves accessibility. | May sound less natural depending on the tool. |
Even if you had video scripts, you should still create video transcriptions after the almost-final product has been created, since changes happen regularly during production. Sending your video files to a transcription agency, like Ditto, is quick, easy, and affordable, and we’ll be able to give you the transcriptions that you need to create .SRT files, closed captions, and subtitles to help take your content to the next level.
You’ve likely invested a great deal into your video campaigns up to this point. We want to make sure you’re getting the results you’re hoping for, just like what we did with our satisfied clients.
Interested in our video transcription service with 99% guaranteed accuracy? Send us a message, and our real human agents will assist you.
Ditto Transcripts is a Denver, Colorado-based FINRA, HIPAA, and CJIS-compliant transcription services company that provides fast, accurate, and affordable transcripts for individuals and companies of all sizes. Call (720) 287-3710 today for a free quote.